“Thus the people of Israel did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, forgot Adonai their God, and served the ba‘alim and asherim.”-Judges 3:7
Yesterday I finished my post by saying the Lord possessed an almost endless supply of Canaanites He could use to harass Israel into obedience to His Law.
Verse 3 gives us a list of these people groups.
FIRST, we have the Philistines and their five rulers.
SECOND, were the Canaanites who were of course descended from Canaan, the cursed son of Ham.
THIRD, were the residents of the city-state of Sidon, a strong people who lived along the northern seacoast.
FINALLY, we have the Hivites who resided in the hilly country of Canaan to the north.
These nations were all divinely ordained by God to stay in the land and be a constant source of trouble for Israel.
This meant that sooner or later, Israel would be brushing up against unruly gentiles in their neighborhood.
This all set the stage for the appearance of the first judge of Israel.
Verse 7 tells us the children of Israel did what was evil from the Lord’s perspective.
Let’s just pause right here for a sec.
Because that little phrase “from the Lord’s perspective” speaks volumes.
Keep in mind that from Israel’s perspective, they didn’t think they were doing anything wrong.
But from God’s perspective, they were fully immersed in evil.
If you want a good example of an institution that does things from their own perspective while being in complete defiance or ignorance of the Lord’s ways, look no further than the institutional gentile church.
I’ve already been over this a million times.
I’ve pointed how out their “Jesus has done away with the Law” theology is as unscriptural as heck and railed against they’re incorporating pagan gods such as the fertility god easter into their worship practices, so I’m not going to belabor it here.
My point is the church doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong or evil from their perspective.
And this attitude was identical to the Hebrews during the era of the Judges.
In fact, it is only in this regard that the church has resembled Israel throughout history.
The importance of this point can’t be overstated.
God doesn’t give two hoots that you’re coming from a place of maple syrupy love.
He didn’t accept ridiculous rationalizations back then and certainly doesn’t accept them today.
DISOBEDIENCE IS DISOBEDIENCE.
It doesn’t matter whether your disobedience was driven by ignorance or intention.
Excuses won’t be tolerated.
Why?
Because God had given Israel His Torah.
He had given them a perfect manual with clear instructions on how to live a life pleasing to Him.
Yet they had poisoned the pure milk of the Lord’s Word by mixing in their own ideas with worship of Canaanite gods.
And as I’ve been saying, they didn’t think they were doing anything wrong.
Yet, they were committing idolatry, plain and simple.
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